Lichtenhainer

A while back I promised to write about Lichtenhainer. It's about time I fulfilled my promise.

Much of my information comes from an excellent article entitled "Vom Kleinsten deutschen Ort, der Braugeschichte machte" in, of all things, Getränkefachgrosshandel magazine of February 1998. The trade magazine for drinks wholesalers. Not only is it detailed, it's also properly-referenced.

Several old brewing manuals are quoted with details about the beer itself. Right down my street. I realise not all of you can read German. So I've translated the most important bits. They may sound a bit stilted. That doesn't matter, does it? As long as you get the gist of what they mean.

First off, here's a passage from "Die Bierbrauerei", 1915, by Rommel and Fehmann:

"Lichtenhainer is also a pale beer brewed from lightly smoked malt, though only barley malt is used. The approximately 8º Plato wort is very lightly hopped and only boiled very briefly and exposed to either a spontaneously appearing or deliberately started lactic acid bacteria infection that gives the beer it's weakly sour taste. The mostly young beer, which isn't expected to be clear, is usually served from a barrel. "

That's actually quite a confusing description. It sounds as if Lichtenhainer is being soured during the primary fermentation. But that isn't the case. It belongs to the very small group of German sour beers that are not sour at the end of primary fermentation.

This quote from Dr Max Delbrück's Brauerei-Lexicon of 1910 makes it much clearer when Lichtenhainer is exposed to the bugs:

"Lichtenhainer is made from smoked barley malt alone, it acquires its sourish taste not during primary fermentation, as does Berliner Weisse, but only through a later developing infection with lactic acid bacteria. . . ."

In "Moderne Braumethoden" by J Ohlberg (1927) it says of Lichtenhainer:

"To make this type of beer one third wheat and two-thirds barley malt are used. The wheat malt is ground fine, the barley coarse, to help filtering. The mashing procedure is brief, a kettle mash or a thick mash. The hopping rate is one pound [half kilo] per zentner [100 kg 50 kg] of malt, boil time 90 minutes. It's pitched with top-fermenting yeast, one lier per zentner. Fermentation temperature 22º C , barrel fermentation. Primary then bottich (vat? tub?) fermentation is rarer; pitching temperature usually 15º C. The gravity of the wort is between 8 and 10º [Plato]. They are highly-attenuated, highly carbonated and wholesome and are regarded as special beers."

"Handbuch der Fabrikation Obergäriger Biere" by Alwin Kulitscher, 1904 (a book I would dearly love to own):

"In Lichtenhainer wheat (up to 50%) and barley malt are used, one of which should be smoked."

There is quite a bit of variation in the recipes given. You have to be very careful when you see the term Weissbier mentioned. It doesn't necessarily mean that a beer contains wheat. Up until sometime in the 19th century German beer was divided into two main groups: Weissbier (white beer) and Braunbier (brown beer). The former was brewed from air-dried malt, the latter from kiln-dried malt. What I'm trying to say is that just because Lichtenhainer is referred to as a Weissbier, doesn't mean that it couldn't be an all-barley beer.

A Professor in Jena University performed a chemical analysis of the beers on sale in the area. It was published in "Journal für Technische und Ökonomische Chemie, 1833, pages 196 - 206. Lichtenhain is now a suburb of Jena, but used to be a village a couple of miles outside town. It seems to have been very popular with student drinking societies. The professor says:

"All the beers examined were brown beers made from kilned malt. All were pale and clear, except for the Lichtenhainer, which was a little cloudy and only cleared after standing for a long time. This cloudiness is a charateristic of the beer and is in no way a fault."

This is what his a analysis showed:

sg of beer: 1.0098
absolute alcohol: 3.168 (not sure if they mean ABW or ABV)

and some weird stuff about salts that I don't understand.

I've just founsd another bit about Lichtenhainer. It's from "Lehrbuch der rationalen Praxis der landwirtschaftelichen Gewerbe" by Dr. Fr. Jul. Otto, 1859.

"Belgian beers are, in my opinion, the non plus ultra of bad beers, they are hard and sour, so without any sort of force that one must be used to them, as with Lichtenhainer beer in Jena, to find them enjoyable or tasty."

Most modern German drinkers would probably concur.

"Real" Lichtenahainer came from the villages of Wöllnitz, Ziegenhain, Ammerbach, Winzerla and, of course, Lichtenhain. At its peak towards the end of the 19th century, Lichtenhainer was made all over Thuringen - in Weimar, Mühlhausen, Eisenach (where I got married), Bitterfeld, Ehringsdorf and Hadmersleben.

The last Lichtenhainer was brewed in Wöllnitz at Brauerei Ed Barfuss Söhne in 1983. At least the last for a while. Because in 1997 a brewpub in Wöllnitz started turning out Wöllnitzer Weißbier. A beer in the Lichtenhainer style. And number one on my list. Of beers I must try. Unless they really do revive Grodziskie. In which case I would be hard-pressed to pick a number one.

This is the brewpub making Wöllnitzer Weißbier:

Gasthaus - Brauerei "Talschänke"
Im Pennickental 44
07749 Jena - Wöllnitz
Tel: (03641) 334321
http://www.talschaenke-woellnitz.de/
Open daily from 12:00